Most of our heads are swirling with all we’ve been subjected to by our government since the election of Donald Trump. It doesn’t matter if you are Conservative or Liberal I suspect your mind is pretty fried by now. We are more divided than ever and our new President thrives on chaos and division. It’s too soon to know how this will all play out, but it’s clear that the chaos will not subside.
And while this chaos plays out, literally every day, we move on to the next crisis. But Friday was a watershed point in the history of this Administration that has pretty much been glossed over. Maybe it didn’t get as much attention as it should have because of the abrupt firing of forty-six U.S. Attorneys, announced late Friday.
But what happened Friday in Sean Spicer’s press conference was huge. Since Donald Trump had said on numerous occasions, during the campaign, that he didn’t believe the job growth and unemployment numbers a reporter asked a question about President Trump believing the employment numbers that had just been released. Sean Spicer replied by saying, the President said to quote him and say, “They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now.” He then chuckled and many in the room did the same.
What he and the President did was publicly admit that Trump was lying in the past about the numbers. They were calculated the same in the past as they were now calculated. Now that he is President he wants to take credit for these numbers since they look good. Even though the job growth numbers for February 2017 were slightly lower than they were a year ago in February 2016, he is now happy. We’re left with the message that the numbers last year were “phony.”
Not only was this an admission to how he lies, but it’s also an attempt to turn his pattern of serial lying into a joke. The quote from Sean Spicer came directly from the President.
It’s been clear over and over again that Trump lies, but we can’t allow ourselves to be manipulated into just laughing about it. It is totally unacceptable to have the President of the United States lie to us. We should not accept this! I can’t even excuse Trump the candidate for his lying, but as President of the United States we must deplore this behavior.
This is a time in the history of our Country where our Congress needs to take a stand. Both Democrats and Republicans must call Trump on this. The very fabric of our being is under attack. Accepting a President who knowing lies says our culture is shifting and everyone now has the right to lie to get what they want. It will be condoned if our Congress doesn’t take a stand and say this will not be tolerated.
The consequences on our society are immense. It will be played out in how business is done, how people interact, on our legal system, etc. This is a watershed point in our history and we must not allow blatant lying to become a joke that our Press Secretary deflects with a chuckle.